diff --git a/oletools/rtfobj.py b/oletools/rtfobj.py
index ac6374e..d81c9e5 100644
--- a/oletools/rtfobj.py
+++ b/oletools/rtfobj.py
@@ -303,11 +303,15 @@ if sys.version_info[0] <= 2:
     BACKSLASH = '\\'
     BRACE_OPEN = '{'
     BRACE_CLOSE = '}'
+    UNICODE_TYPE = unicode
 else:
     # Python 3.x - Integers
     BACKSLASH = ord('\\')
     BRACE_OPEN = ord('{')
     BRACE_CLOSE = ord('}')
+    UNICODE_TYPE = str
+
+RTF_MAGIC = b'\x7b\\rt'   # \x7b == b'{' but does not mess up auto-indent
 
 
 #=== CLASSES =================================================================
@@ -673,7 +677,56 @@ def rtf_iter_objects(filename, min_size=32):
         yield obj.start, orig_len, obj.rawdata
 
 
+def is_rtf(arg, treat_str_as_data=False):
+    """ determine whether given file / stream / array represents an rtf file
+
+    arg can be either a file name, a byte stream (located at start), a
+    list/tuple or a an iterable that contains bytes.
 
+    For str it is not clear whether data is a file name or the data read from
+    it (at least for py2-str which is bytes). Argument treat_str_as_data
+    clarifies.
+    """
+    magic_len = len(RTF_MAGIC)
+    if isinstance(arg, UNICODE_TYPE):
+        print('test file name')
+        with open(arg, 'rb') as reader:
+            return reader.read(len(RTF_MAGIC)).lower() == RTF_MAGIC
+    if isinstance(arg, bytes) and not isinstance(arg, str):  # only in PY3
+        print('test byte array')
+        return arg[:magic_len].lower() == RTF_MAGIC
+    if isinstance(arg, bytearray):
+        print('test byte array')
+        return arg[:magic_len].lower() == RTF_MAGIC
+    if isinstance(arg, str):      # could be bytes, but we assume file name
+        if treat_str_as_data:
+            try:
+                return arg[:magic_len].encode('ascii', error='strict').lower()\
+                    == RTF_MAGIC
+            except UnicodeError:
+                return False
+        else:
+            print('test file name')
+            with open(arg, 'rb') as reader:
+                return reader.read(len(RTF_MAGIC)).lower() == RTF_MAGIC
+    if hasattr(arg, 'read'):      # a stream (i.e. file-like object)
+        print('test stream')
+        return arg.read(len(RTF_MAGIC)).lower() == RTF_MAGIC
+    if isinstance(arg, (list, tuple)):
+        print('test list/tuple')
+        iter_arg = iter(arg)
+    else:
+        print('test iterable')
+        iter_arg = arg
+
+    # check iterable
+    for magic_byte, upper_cased in zip(RTF_MAGIC, RTF_MAGIC.upper()):
+        try:
+            if next(iter_arg) not in (magic_byte, upper_cased):
+                return False
+        except StopIteration:
+            return False
+    return True  # checked the complete magic without returning False --> match
 
 
 def sanitize_filename(filename, replacement='_', max_length=200):